12 Tantalizing Holiday Main Dishes

Compared to classics like turkey or roast beef, which require precise timing, brisket is an amazingly forgiving holiday main dish. (It actually tastes better when made ahead and reheated!) Not to mention, it actually makes its own gravy as it cooks, a luscious sauce that's begging for mashed potatoes.

A marinade made of rosemary, orange juice and sorghum (a syrup that is stronger tasting than honey but less bitter than molasses) infuses the dish with sweetness and color. Chef Edward Lee swears by sorghum's flavor, but if you can't find it, molasses works.

Perfumed with rosemary and sage and served with white wine gravy and whole-roasted garlic and shallots, this succulent roast delivers drama at a bargain price. We recommend ordering this roast in advance. Ask the butcher to remove the chine bone and to French the roast—trim fat and meat from the bone. The whole garlic bulbs are edible but intended as a garnish. If you want to skip them, just roast one for the gravy.

Roll a filling of bacon, chopped spinach and Parmesan cheese in pork loin roast to create this appealing holiday main dish, from Turkey Run Inn in Terre Haute, Indiana. When checking the temp of this roast, move the thermometer around so it's resting in meat, not filling.

For the holidays, guests savor this herbed chicken and vegetable main dish at Spa Shiki at the Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Missouri. Chefs cook and stir their own Alfredo sauce, but we skipped that step and used purchased sauce as the base.